GRAH Lighting
  • Home
  • PRODUCTS
      • STREET LIGHTS
        • Aerolite LSL
        • Aerolite ECO
        • Aerolite SOLAR
        • Dima 55
      • INDUSTRIAL LIGHTS
        • Terralite ECO
        • Impervius
        • Blas
        • Bria
        • Fox
        • Fox AS
        • Bix
      • OFFICE LIGHTS
        • Dema
        • Brattea
        • Reva
  • APPLICATIONS
      • OUTDOOR
        • Residential streets
        • Parks, squares
        • Parking areas
        • Old city centers
        • Walking paths
        • Bicycle lanes
        • Industrial areas
      • INDOOR
        • Industrial facilities
        • Warehouses
        • Gas stations
        • Offices
        • Shopping centers
        • Schools, universities
        • Sport facilities
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • Advantages
    • 360° approach technology
    • Machines
    • Intelligent lighting
    • Customization
  • ABOUT US
    • Company
    • History
    • Vision
    • Certificates
    • People
  • STUDY CENTER
    • Lighting technology overview
    • LED lighting challenges
    • Lighting calculations
    • Importance of appropriate light for humans
    • Importance of darkness for humans
    • Useful links
    • General FAQ
  • NEWS
  • CONTACT
    • Manufacture
    • Contact form
    • Location
    • Distributors
  • Search
  • Menu

Importance of darkness for humans

Home1 / Importance of darkness for humans

Importance of darkness for humans

Since the invention of electric light, the night has been getting progressively brighter. But a growing body of research shows experiencing total darkness is critical to our well-being. Throughout history, humans have gathered in the dark to marvel at the starry blanket overhead. Nowadays, artificial light pollution obscures the night sky in much of the industrial world—which could lead to unforeseen consequences for the environment and for human health.

Since the invention of electric light in the 19th century, the night has been getting progressively brighter, but things really took off in the 1990s. The acceleration has to do with population growth, an increase in nighttime labor, and the widespread belief that more light makes cities safer. Light does increase safety, but only up to a point. Too much light at night can actually make cities more dangerous. With overlit gas stations and bright LED streetlights shining skyward, a clear night sky is harder and harder to find. And our eyes, which developed the ability to see in low-light settings, rarely have the occasion to use that skill anymore.

Forty percent of Americans and Western Europeans never or rarely experience night vision. We’re in the light so much that our eyes never switch. Even inside it’s hard to avoid the glow of streetlights, and we often glance at brightly lit cellphone screens right up until we fall asleep.

There’s a growing medical consensus that all this artificial light is bad for our health. It interrupts our sleep patterns, confuses our circadian rhythms, and inhibits our ability to produce melatonin. Melatonin is only produced in the dark, and what scientists are finding is that a lack of melatonin in our bloodstream is linked to an increased risk for breast and prostate cancer.

Doctors are not saying that the light in your cellphone will give you cancer, but increasingly they recognize the importance of darkness to our overall wellbeing. We’ve evolved in bright days and dark nights, just like all life on Earth, and we need both for optimal health.

Wildlife also depends on darkness. Sea turtles, for example, need a dark sky to navigate. When hatchlings climb out of their nest on the beach, they need to crawl their way to the sea. They’ve evolved to swim or scurry to the brightest light on the horizon, which for all those hundreds of millions of years has been the stars and the moon reflected on the water, but now it’s the hotels and parking lots in the wrong direction. Concerned about the impacts of light pollution, a growing movement is working to reduce excess lighting in our cities and protect dark skies.

About us

  • Company
  • History
  • Vision
  • Certificates
  • People

Technology

  • Advantages
  • 360° approach technology
  • Machines
  • Intelligent lighting
  • Customization

Products

  • STREET LIGHTS
    • Aerolite LSL
    • Aerolite ECO
    • Aerolite SOLAR
    • Dima 55
  • INDUSTRIAL LIGHTS
    • Terralite ECO
    • Impervius
    • Blas
    • Bria
    • Fox
    • Fox AS
    • Bix
  • OFFICE LIGHTS
    • Dema
    • Brattea
    • Reva

Applications

  • OUTDOOR
    • Residential streets
    • Parks, squares
    • Parking areas
    • Old city centers
    • Walking paths
    • Bicycle lanes
    • Industrial areas
  • INDOOR
    • Industrial facilities
    • Warehouses
    • Gas stations
    • Offices
    • Shopping centers
    • Schools, universities
    • Sport facilities

Study center

  • Lighting technology overview
  • LED lighting challenges
  • Lighting calculations
  • Importance of appropriate light for humans
  • Importance of darkness for humans
  • Useful links
  • General FAQ

Contact

  • Manufacture
  • Contact form
  • Location
  • Distributors

News

DOWNLOAD
CENTER

PARTNER LOGIN

Grah Logotype

Grah Lighting d.o.o.
Zadružna ulica 6,
SI – 2310 Slovenska Bistrica,
Slovenia, EU

T: +386 82 801 424
E: info@grahlighting.com

youtube

linkedin

facebook

contact us

  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Notice
Copyright © 2020 Grah Lighting. All Rights Reserved.

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Accept settingsHide notification onlySettings

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy
Accept settingsHide notification only
Scroll to top